In Defense of MEMRI

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has escaped from the insane asylum and somehow got hold of a computer, the results of which is utter nonsense. He attacks New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for being an accomplice for MEMRI, a non-profit organization that translates news stories published in the Middle Eastern press:

In your July 22 piece, you accuse the Imam of Islam's holiest mosque in Mecca of saying the following: "calling Jews 'the scum of the earth' and 'monkeys and pigs' who should be 'annihilated.' Other enemies of Islam were referred to by Sheik Al-Sudayyis as 'worshippers of the cross' and 'idol-worshiping Hindus' who must be fought."

Incendiary stuff! In one statement he manages to alienate the world's Christians, Hindus, and Jews. I wonder why he left out the Buddhists! If it is true that he has really used that kind of despicable language, he has polluted Islam's holiest shrine, and I will be the first to condemn him and ask for his firing.
Here is the problem though. You attribute the information, not to an impartial and respectable source, but to "Memri Translation Service," and "Yigal Carmon, the founder of Memri, which monitors the Arab-Muslim media."

This is where you sink into deceit, Tom. What you hide from America is that Yigal Carmon is a virulent Zionist, whose organisation, Memri, is dedicated solely towards painting the most negative picture of the Islamic world to the west. (Does Memri have an agent in the holy mosque, I wonder.) Yet, to unsuspecting Americans you pass off anti-Muslim Jewish extremist Carmon as a respectable mainstream American.

This crucial information changes the complexion of your expose entirely. You are so powerful Tom that no newspaper in America will dare to expose your deceit and publish this truth. Yigal Carmon supplying information about Muslim preachers is as believable as Baruch Goldstein fighting for the rights of Palestinians…

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Article Author: Niraj

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